Ok, this post is massive (1220 words in fact) and probably really boring - but as I say, I'm utterly obsessed by political history.
By no means would I ever support the cuts, I proudly work for a Trade Union after all. But what I fear is a return to the 80s in terms of an infighting left letting Thatcher get away with murder and I think there is a strong case in the history of the Liberal movement that indicates that while they may not be Labour-Left they are Centre-Left, in that they are not Tories in the way the current government may appear to demonstrate.
I do agree with some of the thrust of what you're saying, but I think it's much more complicated than that. For instance, the revolutionary mood in Europe didn't exactly go down well with a lot of the Socialist movement in the UK at the time. Those who opposed Parliament as a root to Socialism did, but that was not the majority mood at the time. The 1926 General Strike, for instance, was opposed by many in the Labour party.
The point I tried to make in my last post is that history demonstrates a consistently far-closer cooperation between the majority of Liberals in UK politics and Labour than there has been with the Tories.
In regards to the Liberals; Yes, they are free marketeers - but given at the time the Tories were Protectionists and the roots of the Liberal party lie in repealing the Corn Laws, which put the issue of cheap food ahead of the wealth of land owners, there is such a thing of supporting free trade and not being a Tory. Ok, that was the early to late 19th Century - but the roots of the Liberal party lie in ideological differences to the Tories, at a time before Marxism and when the Liberals were the opposition in the way Labour is now.
The major Liberal social reforms happened from 1901 onwards (Pensions and National Insurance), before widespread revolutionary mood - Paul Foot's epic book 'The Vote; How it was Won and how it was undermined' sets that out quite clearly, and given Foot was a diehard socialist, he's hardly going to give Liberals an easy ride. Ok, once again that was the early 20th century. But as Roy Hattersley's book on Lloyd George lays out in detail, the social Liberals of that time had the focus on social justice as the early Labour party did (they in fact worked together closely in some respects, with the early Labour Party telling voters in many areas to vote Liberal), but they did not just believe in socialist planning.
At this point, the Liberal party split into two separate entities with a faction of National Liberals eventually folding into the Tories. The Liberal party itself though didn't, because they weren't Tories. They weren't Labour either though. As politics became divided over socialism and the Liberal part declined, many left to form what I suppose you could call the Right wing of the Labour Party - interested in social justice, wary of socialist planning and, in their view, a state that restricted individual liberty - the fore runners of Roy Jenkins et al.
Being wary of the state in terms of economic planning simply does not make you a Tory, highlighted by the very Labour government you sight. The planning for the Welfare State was laid down by the liberal Lord Beveridge and was paid for by economic planning, ideas and loan schemes arranged by the liberal Lord Keynes. The welfare state was as much a Liberal goal as it was a Labour goal, the difference was in how they believed it should be funded in terms of major economic planning. Also, at that point when the Liberal party was dying the vast majority of Liberals who left the party joined the Labour party - Tony Benn's father and Michael Foot's brother are good examples of that, as both had been Liberal MPs before being Labour ones.
1974 is another example. The Liberals did not prop up Ted Heath, with the inevitable conclusion of Labour getting a majority in the October election - they had an opportunity to prop up the Tories, and they didn't take it.
1996-98 saw the near merging of the Labour party with the LibDems, whilst Paddy Ashdown was leader, who himself had been in the Labour Party (for that matter, Vince Cable had been a Labour Councillor in Glasgow). The reason it didn't happen was that Blair no longer needed their potential support after the 1997 landslide - just think how different politics would be today if they did, a centre left party of that size would have dominated British politics leaving the Tories barely any chance of getting back into power. Ok, it wouldn't have been a 'classic' Labour party of old, but that party died in 1983 when Kinnock became leader and began the long process of trying to turn the party around after a bitter defeat.
In my own home town, they Liberals formed a Coalition with Labour last year to stop the Tories running the council - even after the coalition government was formed.
All I am trying to demonstrate is there is a narrative across over a 100 years of the Liberals NOT supporting the Tories. They had supported Labour causes far more than they ever have Tory. Yes, they are a capitalist, free-market party, but ever since removing Clause IV so are Labour, in terms of economic planning.
The current Lib/Tory co-operation is the exception, not the norm - and we must remember that, even if we don't ever forgive current leaders - just like Labour has never forgiven Ramsey MacDonald, who sold out his party more than Clegg has frankly.
I want to stress I don't agree with the cuts at all, my own Mother (after 30 years public service) has lost her job thanks to them. But if, as people with Centre-Left beliefs fight each other for not being left enough rather than the Tories, then the Tories will just keeping coming back like they always have. On the left, we keep forgetting the Tory vote consistently holds up better than the Labour one. In 2010, Cameron got more votes than Blair in 2005 and Labour got less then Major did in 1997 - no matter how much we want the Tories to go away, they simply are not.
The 20th Century was dominated by the Tories, and the 19th for that, because Tories are able to get together to oppose things they don't like. The left has to do the same in getting together to oppose what it loathes more than anything, the Tories. Just like The Democrats in the US - that party contains Union support, labour and liberals in opposition to the Republicans. In a country that is much, much more right-wing than left-wing they have been able to occupy the White House and the Capital Building more than the left has Downing Street and the House of Commons.
It's that scene in The Life of Brian - if only the Judean People's front and the People's front of Judea had got together to fight the Romans...
And yes, I think AV will help that.
_________________ We deal in lead, my friend.
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